AACCA Offers RN-Coder Candidate Certification Study Guide

RN-Coder Candidate study guides, designed to assist with AACCA certification testing are now available for online ordering.

Effectively prepare and "pre-test" for the AACCA national certification exams. Click here to order your copy today.

Lawmakers to Defray E-Prescription Costs

Faced with the expense of having to write Medicare prescriptions electronically, U.S. doctors have protested the added costs, successfully lobbying Congress.

Physicians will be receiving funds from a newly created federal grant program.  However, lawmakers have deferred a decision on whether the program, designed to reduce medical errors, should be mandatory or voluntary.

Read ABC's article regarding this complex issue including, health practitioner concerns and program benefits. 

Cerebral Palsy Tied to Birth Weight

New studies have shown that contrary to previous beliefs cerebral palsy occurs primarily during pregnancy, and not during delivery.

Records from 10 European registers listing 4,503 babies born with cerebral palsy show those with birth weights in the bottom 10 percent are four to six times more likely to have the condition than those in the normal range.

Learn more about this interesting new research from Yahoo News and HealthDay.

West Nile Season Reveals Test's Weakness

Federal health officials have said that this year's West Nile season has revealed weaknesses in a test used to screen the nation's blood supply for the disease.

Officials of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that a screening test used since July cannot detect all donated blood units infected with the virus.

Click here to learn the latest information on this potential West Nile testing problem and check out the CDC's online website for updated Wet Nile Information.

Diabetes, Obesity on Rise in U.S.

According to official government statistics, Americans diagnosed with diabetes have risen 27 percent between 1997 and 2002. 

The annual snapshot of the nation's health, put together by the National Center for Health Statistics, also shows that nearly a third of Americans are obese and two-thirds overweight.

Read CNN's information regarding causes and prevention tips for individuals and health care providers.

U.S. News Ranks America's Best Hospitals of 2003

U.S News has come out with their yearly rankings of "America's Best Hospitals." The list ranks 2003 top medical centers in 17 specialties.

Click here to find out where your hospital stacks up against the competition in medical care.

FDA Panel Backs Late-Stage Alzheimer's Drug

A drug long used in Germany to ease the ravages of Alzheimer's disease took a step toward the U.S. market on Wednesday when government scientists backed memantine as the first treatment specifically for late stages of the mind-stealing disease.

However, the Food and Drug Administration's advisors questioned the overall effectiveness of memantine, fearing that the drug could give false hope to families of the most severely ill patients.

Click here to read more about the benefits, side effects and project costs of this new medication to patients and insurance companies.

New Study Confirms Those with Mono Have Increased Risk for Hodgkin's

Young adults who get mononucleosis, the "kissing disease," have more than double the risk of developing a rare type of cancer, a Danish study found.

Doctors have long suspected a link between mononucleosis and Hodgkin's disease, a highly treatable cancer of the lymph system. But the role played by the common virus that causes mono was uncertain. The virus, Epstein-Barr, is found in about one-third of Hodgkin's tumors.

Click here to learn more about the study in USA Today.

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